Turkish-Kurdish conflict

A man walks past a mural depicting supporters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), one of them raising a flag showing the face of Abdullah Ocalan — founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) outlawed by Turkey, in Syria's northeastern city of Qamishli on Dec. 16, 2024.

Turkey wants PKK leader Ocalan to sway Kurdish-led SDF on joining Syria army

Ankara seeks to leverage peace talks with PKK while renewing threats against the SDF.

Manifest

Culture

Turkey's women, LGBTQ artists top targets of Erdogan's drive for cultural hegemony

From pop stars to performers, Turkey’s secular arts scene faces increasing pressure under Erdogan’s conservative push.

US President Donald Trump (L) greets Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) upon his arrival at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 25, 2025.

From F-35s to Ukraine: Erdogan-Trump talks signal reset, but sanctions obstacles remain

The summit underscored both leaders’ personal chemistry while highlighting the limits of what the partnership can deliver.

President Donald Trump (R) speaks with President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L), as they arrive for the North Atlantic Council Plenary Session on the second day of the 2025 NATO Summit on June 25, 2025 in The Hague, Netherlands.

Turkey’s Erdogan eyes F-35s, Kurdish concessions in White House talks with Trump

Erdogan is pressing Washington for a return to the F-35 program and a rollback of US support for Kurdish forces, even as Congress signals resistance.

Latest News

UK’s top spy uses farewell from Turkey to lure Russian recruits, sparks fury

Richard Moore

UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen steps down after six years

UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Otto Pedersen addresses a press conference in Damascus on Jan. 22, 2025.

Turkey’s spy chief in Damascus as Israel, Syria weigh new security map

Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin gives a press conference following talks with Sweden and Finland over their bids to join NATO at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on May 25, 2022.

Exclusive

UK-based oil firm victim of standoff between Damascus, Syria’s Kurds

This picture shows pumpjacks in an oil field and smoke plumes rising in the background, following reported Turkish drone strikes near the town of al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey, on Nov. 23, 2022.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

University students protesting.

2023 in review: Israel-Hamas war puts human rights in focus as pattern of double standards persists

A growing number of countries — many of them repressive in their own right — demand to know why Israel’s abuses are permissible.

Smokes billows in Qamishli in northeastern Syria close to the Turkish border on Dec. 25, 2023.

Turkey speeds up attacks on Kurdish groups in Syria, Iraq

The latest escalation occurred after the killing of 12 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq over the past week.

Smoke plumes billow from a fire at a lumber warehouse in southern Khartoum amidst ongoing fighting on June 7, 2023. Eight weeks of fighting have pitted Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo -- commonly known as Hemeti -- who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A number of broken ceasefires have offered brief lulls but no respite for residents of Khartoum, where witnesses again reported "the sound of heavy artillery fire" in the ca

2023 in review: From Sudan to Syria, here are Mideast's forgotten conflicts

More than 12,000 people were killed in the war in Sudan this year, while violence persisted in parts of Syria, Iraq and other countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

Assyrian Christians from Iraq, Syria and Lebanon attend a Christmas mass at Saint Georges church in an eastern Beirut suburb on Dec. 25, 2014.

Assyrian Christmas message raises tensions in Turkey’s parliament

The tensions are a snippet of the larger conflict regarding citizens’ rights to speak their mother tongues in the public and official sphere in multiethnic Turkey.

Mourners carry the coffins of two Kurdish women killed a day earlier in a reported Turkish drone strike, during their funeral in Amuda, a town in the Hasakah governorate in northeastern Syria, on June 21, 2023.

With world's eyes on Gaza, Turkey attacks Syria's Kurds again

As of the beginning of 2023, at least 32 civilians have died in Turkish attacks in northeast Syria, including seven women and five children, according to local monitoring organizations.

Mazloum Abdi (Kobani), commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks with AFP during an interview in the countryside outside the northwestern Syrian city of Hasakah, in the province of the same name, on Jan. 24, 2019.

Interview

Syrian Kurdish commander: 'We don’t want to become battleground between US, Iran'

Mazlum Kobane also revealed that the Iran-backed groups had begun to target SDF military positions.

Mazlum Kobane

Mazlum Kobane

SDF commander in chief

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) addresses parliament to mark the opening of the new legislative year.

Turkey postpones vote on Sweden’s NATO bid as lawmakers raise F-16 sale

The postponement is believed to have linked Ankara’s approval of Stockholm's entry into NATO to progress on its own bid to buy new F-16 fighter jets from the United States.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaks during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart in Tehran on Sept. 3, 2023.

Iran’s FM heads to Turkey as Erdogan slams 'Israel's barbarity'

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has announced that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will pay an official visit to Turkey on Wednesday.

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Turkey extends mandate for military operations in Syria, Iraq

The Turkish parliament’s extension of the mandate for another two years comes amid rising tensions between Turkey and the United States.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Syrian Kurds accuse Turkey of war crimes as Erdogan vows escalation

Syria’s Kurds say Turkish forces are committing war crimes as Erdogan escalates against the US-Allied Syrian Democratic Forces.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s Erdogan says ‘first phase’ of Syria operation has concluded

The Turkish president also said the first phase of Turkey’s ongoing operations against outlawed Kurdish militants and dominant Syrian Kurdish groups was concluded.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and her Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan shake hands at the end of a joint press conference following their talks in Yerevan on October 3, 2023. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP) (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

As Armenia's ties strain with Turkey, France pushes EU to stand with Yerevan

France has positioned itself strictly on Armenia’s side on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, but can it avoid generating another crisis with Turkey?

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs